Simple Summer Fun: Museums

Brayden and Kaitlyn at a local museum type of place doing laundry

Sometimes museums get a bad wrap, and sometimes we underestimate what our children will find interesting. Chances are you have some sort of museum close to you. Within a reasonable driving distance from us, I can think of Dinosaur museums, museums about the history of our area, church museums, Children's museum, Air Force museum, and other cultural museums. Most of these are free.

A couple of weeks ago, Brayden and I went to the library. In the same building as our library, we have a museum that has information about the history of our county. It is free, so I thought we would check it out. He loved it! A museum curator walked us through and told us all about the things we saw and answered all of Brayden's questions. 

There are a lot of museums that are of interest to children and that are geared toward children. The photo above is from a museum-ish place. They have buildings and activities that are all geared toward the American West history. We got to do many hands-on activities, like laundry, churning butter, gathering eggs, planing wood, riding ponies, panning for gold, and riding a train. This offered a lot of fun and a lot of learning. What a great way to learn history! This was so much more interesting than looking at pictures and telling stories.

So look into the museums in your area. Take your children and see what they think about it.

Here are some tips:

• I would plan on a short visit of 2-3 hours. You can stay longer if your children want to, but if you plan on that, you won't be disappointed if and when your children are done by then.
• Bring water and snacks if allowed.
• Plan your trip at your child's best time of day. Don't plan on being there over a meal or a nap (unless your child would sleep).
• For younger children, bring a stroller. I didn't bring one for Kaitlyn (3), and by the time we had been walking for two hours, I found myself carrying her. If you have a stroller in your vehicle, you can get it if needed.